Food outlets using substandard material fined in Kohat

KOHAT: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority on Sunday said that most bakeries in the Kohat district were selling sweets prepared by using non-food colours which according to experts may cause cancer.

While sharing the progress of the authority since its inception in last week of March, Deputy Director Kamran Khan said half of the food outlets that were fined used non-food colours. "After holding a meeting with the representatives of business community on March 29, the teams of the authority have inspected 158 eateries and bakeries in Kohat thus far. Around 16 of these were penalised," Kamran Khan said. He added seven outlets were fined for using non-food colours in sweets, ice-creams and meals.

The official said that some were fined for miss-labelling, usage of china salt and rusted utensils, presence of rodents' faeces and poor hygiene conditions of the production area. He said a fine of Rs540,000 was imposed while 127 improvement notices were also issued to the eateries.

The official said during the operations, at least 360kg of contaminated sweets, and 160 litres of adulterated milk was disposed of. Bakeries and restaurants were the prime target of the authority as 57 outlets were visited for inspection. At least 32 schools, 30 general stores, 23 milk and meat shops while 16 factories, mostly of ice-cream and papad were inspected in Kohat.

The official said almost 90 percent of schools lacked filtered water, compelling the students to drink tap water. "The food experts visit food outlets, spend at least half an hour in most of the outlets and properly guide the management for improvements.”

However, he said that there was no compromise on adulteration and use of any harmful substance during production, adding that such outlets were fined in first place and might permanently be sealed in case of non-compliance with the directives for improvement.

The deputy director said visible improvement was witnessed on revisiting the ice-cream factories, restaurants and bakeries. He added that apart from keeping the production area clean and installation of insect killers, the food handlers had started using gloves and head covers.